VOL. 52
NO. 9, SEPT.
Inhibition
1999
THE JOURNAL OF ANTIBIOTICS
of Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1
pp.797
by l l-Keto-9(£),12(£)-octadecadienoic
_ 802
Acid,
a Novel Fatty Acid Produced by Trichoderma sp.
Toshihiro
Chikanishi,
Chikara Shinohara,
Tadashi Kikuchi,
Akira Endo and Keiji Hasumi*
Department of Applied Biological Science, Tokyo Noko University,
Fuchu, Tokyo 183-8509, Japan
We have recently
found a novel fatty
(KOD), that enhances fibrinolytic
KOD has been investigated.
acid,
ll-keto-9(£),12(iT)-octadecadienoic
activity of endothelial
KOD increased
2-fold
acid
cells. The mechanism of action of
the plasmin
activity
of bovine aortic
endothelial cells at 250 jam. The stimulation was dependent on plasminogen and was inhibited
by anti-urokinase, whereas KODdid not enhance the urokinase-catalyzed plasminogen
activation and the resulting plasmin activity in a cell-free system. Neither the production of
urokinase nor the conversion of pro-urokinase to the active, two-chain form was elevated by
KOD, but it decreased plasminogen activator inhibitor- 1 (PAI- 1) activity of cells and inactivated
PAI-1 irreversibly in a purified system. These results demonstrated that the KODenhancement
of endothelial fibrinolytic activity was mediated, at least in part, by inactivation of PAI-1.
Endothelial
cells
synthesize
and secrete plasminogen
activators, such as urokinase (UPA) and tissue plasminogen
activator (tPA), as well as plasminogen activator inhibitors. The balance of production between plasminogen
activators and inhibitors
by endothelial
cells mainly
regulates flbrinolysis
in the blood vessel. In patients
with atherosclerosis and thromboembolism, plasminogen
activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1) may be dominant in this
balance1?2).
PAI-1
belongs
to the
serpin
superfamily3).
Humanmature PAI- 1 is a 48-kDa single-chain glycoprotein
consisting of 379 amino acids3)4). PAI-1 is produced as an
active molecule, but it spontaneously converts to an
inactive, latent form5). Latent PAI-1 can be re-activated by
exposure to denaturing agents, followed by refolding6). Like
other serpins, PAI-1 is thought to associate with the target
protease through a bait residue in a reactive site loop. The
reactive site loop is partly inserted between strands 3 and 5
thereby, enhanced UPA-mediated plasminogen activation in
BAEC.
Materials and Methods
Materials
Chemicals
and proteins
were obtained
from the
following
sources:
human plasminogen
(TV-terminal
glutamic acid form) from Enzyme Research Laboratories
(South Bend, IN, USA); human UPA and rabbit anti-UPA
serum from JCR Pharmaceuticals (Kobe, Japan); goat antitPA IgG from Biopool (Umea, Sweden); bovine fibrinogen,
human thrombin,
nitroanilide),
stearic
hydroxyhexadecanoic
S-2251
(H-D-valyl-leucyl-lysine-/?acid, oleic acid, linoleic
acid and 3acid from Sigma (St. Louis, MO,
USA); Spectrozyme UK(carbobenzoxy-L-7-glutamyl
butoxy)-glycyl-arginine-p-nitroanilide)
(a-t-
American
of the j8-sheet A of the molecule, and this insertion appears
to be required for inhibition7).
In the course of identifying
agents that enhance
fibrinolytic
activity
of vascular endothelial
cells, we
have isolated
a novel fatty acid, ll-keto-9(£),12(£)octadecadienoic
acid (KOD),
from a culture of
Trichoderma sp. F55948). This report deals with the
Diagnostica
mechanism of the KODenhancement of fibrinolytic
method of Lawrence et al.9\ KODwas isolated from
of bovine aortic
endothelial
cells
(BAEC).
activity
The results
demonstrated that KODirreversibly inactivated PAI- 1 and,
Inc. (Greenwich,
from
CT, USA); [35S]EXPRESSá"
Protein Labeling
Mix (73% L-[35S]methionine,
22% l[35S]cysteine)
from NEN; protein A-Sepharose from
Pharmacia Biotech. PAI-1 was from two sources: one
from the human melanoma cell line MJZJ (American
Diagnostica)
and the other from human HT1080 cells,
which was purified and re-activated
according
to the
cultures of Trichoderma sp. F55948). The compositions of
media and buffers were: medium A, Eagle's minimum
798
essential mediumsupplemented with 10%fetal calf serum,
100units/ml
penicillin
G and lOO^g/ml
streptomycin;
medium B, medium A devoid of NaHCO3but supplemented with 20mM HEPES, pH 7.4; buffer A, 50mM
Tris-HCl and lOOmMNaCl, pH 7.4; buffer B, 150mM
NaCl and 20mMsodium phosphate, pH 7.4; buffer C,
10mM Tris-HCl, 150mM NaCl, 0.1% SDS, 1% Triton X100, 0.5% sodium deoxycholate and 1 mMEDTA, pH 7.5;
buffer D, buffer B containing 0.05% Triton X-100; buffer
E, 150mM NaCl, 50mM Tris-HCl,
pH 7.5, 100/xg/ml
bovine serum albumin and 0.01% Tween 80.
Cell Culture
BAECwere isolated from bovine aorta and subcultured
in mediumA for approximately 6 passages. For assays,
cells
SEPT.
THE JOURNAL OF ANTIBIOTICS
were seeded into 96-well
104cells/50jA
1.5X106cells/1.5ml
tissue culture
plates
(5X
per well) or 35-mm culture dishes (1.0 to
per
dish)
and grown for 24hours
beforeuse.
Determination of Fibrinolytic Activity of BAEC
BAECgrown in 96-well plates were washed twice with
medium B and preincubated at 37°C for 6 hours in 50jA of
medium B with or without KOD. At the end of the
incubation, cells were washed with buffer A and then
received 100 /^1 of buffer A containing 0. 1 jiu plasminogen
and 0.1mMS-2251. After incubation at 37°C for up to
4hours, the release of /?-nitroaniline
was determined by
measuring the change in absorbance at 405 nm.
1999
SDS, placed onto a fibrin-agar indicator geln) containing
0.2unit/ml UPA, and incubated at 37 °C for 3-5 hours. The
indicator gel was stained with 0.1% amide black in 30%
methanol and 10% acetic acid and was destained in 30%
methanol and 10% acetic acid.
Determination of PAI- 1 Activity
PAI-1 activity was determined as the inhibitory activity
against UPAas follows. Active humanmelanomaPAI-1
(4.21jUg/ml) was preincubated with or without KODin
50Art of buffer D at 37°C for 15minutes. Subsequently,
25 jul of UPA (8 units/ml) in buffer D containing 20mg/ml
bovine serum albumin were added and the mixture was
incubated at 37°C for 30minutes. Then, remaining UPA
activity
was determined
by adding
25ji\
of 0.4mM
Spectrozyme UK(in buffer D) to the mixture, followed
by further incubating at 37°C to measure changes in
absorbance at 405nm. In the experiment by which
reversibility
of KODinhibition was examined, re-activated
PAI-1 from human HT1080
cells
(2.45/zg/ml)
preincubated
in buffer E at 37°C for 30minutes
was
in the
absence or presence of KOD.The KOD-treated PAI-1 was
assayed for UPAinhibition either directly or after dialysis
against 4 m guanidine HC1 in phosphate-buffered saline, pH
7.3 containing 0. 1 mMdithiothreitol
and 0.01% Tween 80 at
37°C for 4.5hours and then against 50mMsodium
phosphate, pH 6.6, 500 mMNaCl, 0.1 mMdithiothreitol
and
0.01% Tween 80 at 4°C for 16hours9). For UPAinhibition
assay, aliquots of the treated PAI-1 (20ji\) was incubated
with 10Art of UPA (75units/ml in buffer E) at 37°C for
Immunoprecipitation of UPA
BAECwere washed with buffer B and labeled at 37 °C
15minutes.
Subsequently,
the mixture received 20Art of
Spectrozyme UK (0.25mM in buffer E) and changes in
for 6hours in the presence of 35S protein labeling mixture
absorbance at 405 nm were measured at 37°C.
(50 /iCi/ml) in methionine-free mediumA. After washing
with buffer B, cells were scraped in buffer C containing
10 /ig/ml aprotinin and disrupted by sonication. Using the
supernatant of the cell lysate (approximately 1.3 X 107 cpm),
immunoprecipitation was carried out as described10).
Reverse Fibrin Zymography
BAECgrown in 35-mmdishes were washed twice with
buffer B and incubated in 750/xl of medium A at 37°C for
2 hours in the absence or presence of KOD.After washing,
cells were removed by scraping in 1ml of buffer B and
centrifuged. The resulting cell pellet was dissolved in
100^1 of buffer B containing
0.5% Triton X-100. The
cell lysates were subjected to SDS-polyacrylamide
gel
electrophoresis
(SDS-PAGE)
under reducing conditions.
After electrophoresis,
the gel was washed twice with
250ml of 2.5% Triton X-100 for 45minutes to remove
Results
The fibrinolytic
activity of BAECwas determined by
incubating the cells at 37°C for 6 hours in the absence or
presence of KOD, followed by washing and further
incubating the cells with plasminogen and a chromogenic
plasmin substrate, S-2251. KODstimulated the activity at
a concentration higher than 30 /im, and the activity doubled
at -250/iM
(Fig.
1A).
The
elimination
of plasminogen
in the second incubation abolished the effect of KOD
(data not shown), indicating that its effect was mediated by
plasminogen
activation.
Stearic,
oleic,
linoleic
and
3-
hydroxyhexadecanoic acids failed to enhance, rather were
inhibitory
to, fibrinolytic
activity at a concentration of
250~260/iM' (Fig. IB), suggesting an essential role of the
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THE JOURNAL OF ANTIBIOTICS
799
Fig. 1. Effects ofKODand other fatty acids on fibrinolytic
activity
ofBAEC.
BAECwere preincubated at 37°C for 6 hours in the presence of the indicated concentrations of KOD(A) or the
indicated
fatty acids:
270//m KOD, 250/zm stearic
acid,
250jllm oleic
acid, 250/iM linoleic
acid or 260/iM 3-
hydroxyhexadecanoic acid (HHD) (B). After washing, cells received plasminogen and S-2251 and were further
incubated at 37°C for 4hours to measure changes in absorbance at 405 nm. Each value represents the mean±S.D.
from triplicate determinations.
a,/?-unsaturated carbonyl function in the KODmolecule.
To determine the contribution of plasminogen activators
in the KODeffect, fibrinolytic activity was determined in
the
presence
of anti-UPA and anti-tPA
antibodies
at
concentrations inhibiting >95% of respective enzyme in a
purified system. In control cells, activity was markedly
reduced by anti-UPA but slightly
by anti-tPA (Fig. 2),
indicating
that UPA was the predominant plasminogen
activator
in BAEC under the present experimental
conditions. In KOD-treated cells, anti-tPA caused slight
inhibition, while anti-UPA reduced activity to a level
comparable to that in control cells. KODfailed to enhance
UPA-catalyzed plasminogen
activation
and the resulting
plasmin activity in a cell free system (data not shown); this
excluded the possibility of a direct activation of UPAand/or
plasmin by KOD.Thus, these results suggested that the
KODeffect was mediated by a change in the amount of the
active species of UPAon BAEC.However, the level ofuPA
in
BAEC was unaffected
by KOD, as revealed
by
immunoprecipitation of UPAthat had been metabolically
labeled with 35S in the presence and absence of KOD.
Further,
the conversion
of the [35S]pro-UPA
(single-chain
form) to the two-chain form was not enhanced in cells
incubated with KOD(data not shown).
To test for the possibility
that
the KOD effect is
associated with changes in PAI activity, the level of PAI in
BAECwas determined by reverse fibrin zymographyafter
SDS-PAGE under reducing conditions, which enable the
detection of PAI-1 but not PAI-212). In the zymogram, cell
lysate from untreated control BAECgave a prominent lysisresistant area that indicated the presence of PAI-1. On the
other hand, lysate from KOD-treated cells produced a rather
faint band,
showing that PAI-1 activity
in KOD-treated
BAECwas significantly reduced (Fig. 3A). Furthermore,
when lysate from untreated BAECwas incubated with
KOD in a cell-free
conditions,
the intensity
of a lysis-
resistant band was markedly reduced as compared to that
observed with lysate not incubated with KOD(Fig. 3B),
indicating a direct inhibition ofPAI- 1 by KOD.
Next, the effect of KODon human PAI-1 activity was
examinedin a cell-free system using purified materials
(Fig. 4). In the first experiment, UPAwas incubated with
human PAI-1 that had been preincubated with or without
KOD, following
which
residual
UPA activity
was
800
SEPT.
THE JOURNAL OF ANTIBIOTICS
1999
Fig. 3. Effect ofKOD on PAI activity in BAECas
visualized by reverse fibrin zymography.
Fig. 2. Effects of KODon fibrinolytic activity of
BAECin the absence and presence of anti-tPA or
anti-UPA antibody.
(A) BAECwere incubated at 37°C for 2hours in the
absence or presence of KOD(300 fiM) in medium A.
Subsequently, cell lysate (50 jig protein) was subjected
to SDS-PAGE on a 10% gel under reducing conditions, and the gel was processed for reverse fibrin
zymography. Lane 1, lysate from control cells; lane 2,
lysate from KOD-treated cells. (B) Lysate prepared
from untreated BAEC(250 ^g/ml) was incubated at
BAECwere incubated at 37°C for 6hours in the
absence or presence of 270 /iM KOD.After washing,
cells were incubated at 37°C for 10 minutes with buffer
A containing none, anti-tPA IgG (2.85 /zg/ml) or antiuPA serum (215 /ig/ml). Subsequently each culture
received
plasminogen
and
S-2251.
After
37°C for 2hours in the absence or presence of KOD
(300 ^m), and a portion of the mixture (5 /ig protein)
was subjected to SDS-PAGE on a 10% gel under
reducing
conditions.
Subsequently,
the gel was
processed
for reverse fibrin zymography. Lane 1,
control; lane 2, KOD-treated. Arrowhead denotes the
further
incubation at 37°C for 4 hours, changes in absorbance
at 405nmwas measured. Each value represents the
mean± S.D. from triplicate determinations.
determined
(Fig.
4A).
The
residual
UPA activity
position of lysis-resistant
was
band.
Discussion
reduced to 15%by PAI-1 that had not been treated with
KOD.On the other hand, KOD-treated PAI-1 became less
inhibitory.
50 and
The residual UPA activity was increased to
67% by PAI-1 preincubated
with KOD at
concentrations of 300 and 600 jjm, respectively. KODdid
not affect UPAactivity in the absence ofPAI-1. To examine
whether KODinhibition of PAI-1 involved an inactivation
or of an elevated
conversion
of active PAI-1 to latent
analogue, active PAI-1 was incubated with KODand the
KODincreases plasmin activity of BAEC.Although the
KODeffect is not apparent in the absence of plasminogen
and is blocked by anti-UPA, it enhances neither production
nor activation
of UPAin the cells.
Further, KODis not
stimulatory to urokinase-catalyzed plasminogen activation
and the resulting plasmin activity in a purified system. On
the other hand, PAI-1 activities both in BAECand in a
purified system are markedly inhibited by KOD.From these
treated PAI-1 was assayed for UPAinhibition before and
after dialysis against guanidine HC1, which re-activates
latent PAI-1. As shown in Fig. 4B, activity of KODtreated PAI-1 to inhibit UPAwas not restored even after
dialysis against the denaturant; this demonstrated that an
results,
irreversible
treatment with guanidine HC1. Similarly, the KOD-treated
inactivation of PAI- 1 occurred.
it was concluded that KOD enhances fibrinolytic
activity of BAEC, at least in part, by inhibiting PAI-1. PAI1 is spontaneously converted to the latent form5), which can
be re-activated by exposure to denaturing agents6). The
activity
of KOD-inhibited
PAI-1 is not restored by a
BAEC lysate exerts much less PAI-1 activity
electrophoresis
even after
under the denaturing conditions, which can
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NO.9
801
THE JOURNAL OF ANTIBIOTICS
Fig. 4. Inhibition
ofPAI-1 by KODin apurified
system.
(A) The indicated concentrations of KODwere preincubated with 0 (å ) or 4.21 jUg/ml of human melanoma PAI1 (à") at 37°C for 15 minutes. Subsequently, inhibition of UPA activity was determined in duplicate. (B) PAI-1 from
HT1080 cells (2.45/xg/ml) was preincubated with 0 or 200/im KODat 37°C for 30minutes. Aliquots of the
preincubated PAI-1 were assayed for UPAinhibition either directly (before denaturation) or after denaturation by
guanidine HC1. Each value represents the mean±S.D. from triplicate determinations.
restore activity of latent PAI-1. These results demonstrate
that the KOD inhibition
of PAI-1 is caused by an
irreversible
inactivation,
rather than by an increased
conversion into the latent form.
The a,/3-unsaturated carbonyl function of the KOD
molecule appears to be essential to PAI-1 inactivation.
a,/J-Unsaturated
carbonyl compounds may cause protein
modification
at sulfhydryl,
imidazolyl
and amino
groups13?14). The PAI-1 molecule does not contain cysteine,
and histidine
and lysine are not present in the essential
Acknowledgments
Wethank Shigemitsu Nakashima for technical assistance
and Yoshikazu
Kitano
for discussion.
This
work was
supported in part by grants from the Ministry of Health and
Welfare, Japan and the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports
and Culture, Japan.
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